Zeolites are crystalline aluminosilicate compositions which are microporous and which have a three dimensional oxide framework formed from corner sharing AlO2 and SiO2 tetrahedra. Numerous zeolites, both naturally occurring and synthetically prepared are used in various industrial processes. One such process is the alkylation of aromatics with olefins and especially the alkylation of benzene with ethylene or propylene. The reaction between benzene and propylene produces mostly cumene. Cumene is an important industrial compound because it is a source of phenol and acetone, which are obtained by the oxidation of cumene and subsequent acid-catalyzed decomposition of the intermediate hydroperoxide. The reaction of benzene with ethylene produces ethylbenzene, which is converted to styrene, an important raw monomer for many industrially important polymers. Acid catalysts are used to catalyze this reaction with the most common catalysts being zeolites and particularly zeolite beta.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,613,302 discloses UZM-5, UZM-5P and UZM-6 as examples of a new family of crystalline aluminosilicate zeolites. Zeolites of this family are represented by the empirical formula:Mmn+Rrp+Al(1-x)ExSiyOz where M is an alkali or alkaline earth metal such as lithium and strontium, R is a nitrogen containing organic cation such as tetramethyl ammonium and E is a framework element such as gallium. They are also characterized by unique x-ray diffraction patterns and have catalytic properties for carrying out various hydrocarbon conversion processes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,157 discloses a process for alkylation of aromatic compounds using a new family of related crystalline aluminosilicate zeolites represented by the empirical formula:Mmn+Rrp+Al(1-x)ExSiyOz where M is an alkali or alkaline earth metal such as lithium and strontium, R is a nitrogen containing organic cation such as tetramethyl-ammonium and E is a framework element such as gallium.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,578,993 discloses a process for preparing crystalline aluminosilicate compositions involving preparing a charge density mismatch reaction mixture comprising sources of aluminum, silicon, optionally an E metal and at least one charge density mismatch (CDM) template. The CDM template is an organic nitrogen containing template, in the hydroxide form, e.g. tetraethylammonium hydroxide and is characterized in that it is incapable of inducing crystallization. To this mixture there is added a solution comprising a second templating agent termed a crystallization template (CT). The CT can be an organic template different from the CDM template, an alkali metal, an alkaline earth metal and mixtures thereof.